Yoshimura Suzuki’s Aaron Yates held off Graves Yamaha’s Jason DiSalvo to take his third AMA Superstock win of the season Sunday at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. DiSalvo’s last-lap pass attempt on Yates failed, but he held on for second at the finish. In contention all the way, Kawasaki’s Roger Hayden finished a close third on his ZX-10R. All of the top three finishers used Dunlop tires. Not far behind, Lion Racing’s Jake Holden and John Haner finished fourth and fifth, respectively, on their Pirelli-shod Lion Racing Suzuki GSX-R1000s. By mid-race, Tommy Hayden had fought his way to the front and was beginning to open up a lead when he brushed a back marker, ran off the track and crashed hard. Hayden did not immediately get up from his crash. Yates’ win extends his Championship lead over DiSalvo to 10 points. Provisional AMA Superstock Race Results: 1. Aaron Yates, Suzuki, 17 laps 2. Jason DiSalvo, Yamaha, -0.228 second 3. Roger Hayden, Kawasaki, -2.378 seconds 4. Jake Holden, Suzuki, -4.419 seconds 5. John Haner, Suzuki, -4.483 seconds 6. Steve Rapp, Suzuki, -9.293 seconds 7. Aaron Gobert, Yamaha, -16.812 seconds 8. Damon Buckmaster, Yamaha, -17.106 seconds 9. Brent George, Suzuki, -21.558 seconds 10. Jimmy Moore, Suzuki, -22.729 seconds 11. Jason Pridmore, Suzuki, -23.391 seconds 12. Tony Meiring, Suzuki, -27.190 seconds 13. Jason Perez, Yamaha, -36.453 seconds 14. Lee Acree, Suzuki, -47.266 seconds 15. Mark Miller, Suzuki, -47.458 seconds 16. Blake Young, Suzuki 17. Akira Tamitsuji, Suzuki 18. Chris Ulrich, Suzuki 19. Cory Call, Kawasaki 20. Michael Barnes, Suzuki 21. Matt Lynn, Suzuki 22. J.J. Roetlin, Suzuki 23. Montez Stewart, Suzuki, -1 lap 24. James Kerker, Honda, -1 lap 25. Reno Karimian, Suzuki, -1 lap 26. Sean Wray, Yamaha, -1 lap 27. Eli Edwards, Suzuki, -1 lap 28. Brian Boyd, Suzuki, -1 lap 29. Johnny Rock Page, Yamaha, -1 lap 30. Jeremy Haiduk, Yamaha, -1 lap 31. Tommy Hayden, Kawasaki, -3 laps, DNF, crash 32. Corey Eaton, Suzuki, -4 laps, DNF, crash 33. Skye Girard, Yamaha, -4 laps 34. Brad Puetz, Suzuki, -7 laps 35. Christopher Ancien, Suzuki, -10 laps, DNF 36. Geoff May, Suzuki, -12 laps, DNF, mechanical 37. Eric Wood, Suzuki, -15 laps, DNF 38. Eric Haugo, Suzuki, -17 laps, DNS More, from a press release issued by Proforma: BEST-EVER FINISH FOR JOHN HANER IN SUPERSTOCK AT LAGUNA SECA John Haner of the Lion Racing Suzuki team had his best-ever finish in AMA Superbike Championship racing today in the Repsol Lubricants Superstock race at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in front of over 57,000 spectators. John moved into sixth place on the third lap and began closing the gap to the leading group that included his teammate Jake Holden, and he was elevated to fifth when leader Tommy Hayden crashed out of the race on lap 15. Lapped traffic kept Haner from getting past Jake on the last lap, but he was ecstatic with the race finish. On Saturday, John finished 13th after fighting his way back from an off-track excursion on lap two of the Superbike race. John had gotten a good start from his third row starting position and was in 11th position when he had to run off the track to avoid hitting rider Marty Craggill entering the corkscrew, coming back on course in 35th place. He passed over half the field in the remaining laps, collecting 13th place before the checkered flag fell. Saturday’s Superbike Final – 13th Place “I made a mistake and almost hit Marty Craggill,” admitted John. “I went off in the gravel and came back on in God knows what place. I just started picking people off one at a time, in little packs. I finished the race and got something out of it. I had a few issues with the bike. The suspension adjustments we made didn’t work. We’ll make some changes for tomorrow.” Sunday’s Repsol Lubricants Superstock Final – 5th Place “That’s one of the better races I’ve had in the AMA,” said an obviously happy John Haner. “I had an on-par start, nothing exceptional, everyone got off the line pretty well. I went into turn two, everyone was scrambling for positions. A few people spun it up and made some mistakes. I was behind (Steve) Rapp and (Aaron) Gobert. I got around Gobert when he made a mistake in turn five, then I got around Rapp. I saw the gap to my teammate Jake, and I could see the two Kawasakis and (Jason) Disalvo. I said, ‘Hell yes, I can catch these guys’. I just put my head down and I almost got Jake. I had some issues with traffic, both of us did, that helped me close up and helped him get away, both back and forth. You know, that’s just racing. We had a good day. The crew changed the motor this morning, it got rid of the transmission issues and it made a world of difference.”